Mapuche in Lautaro

On Thursday morning my teammate and I spent the morning working at our host home. We fixed the bathroom door to close without scraping and we chopped firewood (pecaron leña). We’ve never had so much trouble cutting wood. Granted we both work at computers for a living, but come to find it was a variety of oak that is very sense: one piece will burn for a long time.

Also, here is an example of the fresh bread they have for us at breakfast and dinner, usually as a ham and cheese sandwich.

Then we finished siding the church. Construction project goal achieved! The church hopes to start using the building by the end of December, and the Pastor, Luis, and his family hope to move into the house behind it. Then funds being used to rent those other two noodling can be used otherwise. Thanks for your partnership to make this big step forward.

Front of church

Back of church

Pastors house behind the church.

Then today we traveled to Lautaro (where there is a church/school that we were originally planning to go to) and worked with a co-op at a Mapuche farm. A Mapuche value is to come together as a community and help each other on the farm. One farm may be ten times bigger than another, but one hour on each farm is considered equivalent. They just help as there is need. We dug about 200 yards of ditch to lay an irrigation system. Two steer were yoked together pulling a plow and then we shoveled out the dirt. The yoke was a visceral example of enyugados (see previous post). We also repaired a line of fence. Then they fed us pork chops, potatoes, lettuce salad, and torts (a circular loaf of bread) fresh from the oven. Yum. The homes are very humble: thick tarp of transparent plastic instead of glass as windows. Great experience.

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Published by Eric

1 thought on “Mapuche in Lautaro”

You have experienced a rare opportunity to really understand the way another culture lives. Thanks for sharing so much of the day to day happenings. I think how unusual it is for many people to give an hour a week to helping someone else.